Seven Years of Our Lives
by Lorelei Lupin
Summary: James/Lily fic that should go through their seven years at Hogwarts.
1. Prologue: Diane Dumbledore

A/N: I promise this is a James/Lily fic! Just have to give you a little bit of interesting history first. Enjoy, R&R!  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. If your gonna sue the pants off of me you get either my paint-covered pair or my blood- stained pair (don't ask or I'll kill you, too)  
  
Seven Years of Our Lives  
  
  
  
Prologue: Diane Dumbledore  
  
Diane Dumbledore, daughter of one of the greatest wizards of all time was wondering the castle as usual. Her father was locked up in his laboratory with Nicholas Flemel working on some alchemy stuff. On top of that she couldn't even find Tom-Tom Riddle, currently one of her best friends, though sometimes his rants of power and lordship scared her. He was in between his third and fourth year currently, and always stayed during the holidays like Diane. She knew he probably wouldn't get too far in power, seeing as he often overlooked several details in his plans to get back at Gryffindors. She personally didn't have a preference of Houses. Her father was Head of Gryffindor, and her best friend was in Slytherin. Of course there was Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff-well, maybe she didn't care for those too much.  
  
She turned a corner towards the Slytherin common room. When she started in Hogwarts she would have an advantage, knowing where all the common rooms were, and she'd even know the passwords for a while. She smile to herself.  
  
"Lion gu-"  
  
"Diane?"  
  
"Oh, hi! I was just looking for you."  
  
"And I you. Though I see I have had better luck."  
  
"Erm, yeah, I guess," Diane answered.  
  
"So, what did you need?" they asked simultaneously. They each laughed slightly.  
  
"You first," Diane said quickly before he could say the same thing, "I was just bored."  
  
"Well, now I'm second," Tom corrected. "Anyroad, I could use your help. I'm looking for some stuff on my family."  
  
"I thought you were an orphan," Diane said before she could stop herself.  
  
"Er, yeah, but that doesn't mean I wasn't born from someone."  
  
"Heh, yeah, so what do you want me to do?"  
  
"Could you ask your father for me. I know that my dad was a muggle, but my mum was a witch, and your father would probably know who she was. I don't know her maiden name."  
  
"Well, I would, he's working with Flemel in the lab right now, but." Diane trailed off in thought. "You 'live' at a muggle orphanage, right?"  
  
"Supposed to, yeah. Why?"  
  
"Well, they have got to have your records. After all, your mum died in a muggle hospital, correct."  
  
"Your right, but how are we supposed to get them?" he inquired in a well-duh tone.  
  
"Easy, just go into daddy's classroom, and in his desk he has a muggle telephone, but I need one favour from you."  
  
"What's that," he asked.  
  
"Voice change. I need to sound like Headmaster Dippet."  
  
"No problem," Tom said smiling, "Vocalis Changon, Armando Dippet!"  
  
"I didn't mean now!" Diane growled with Dippet's voice, "Hey, it worked!"  
  
"Of course it worked, I cast it," Tom replied.  
  
Diane shook it, "He is so full of himself," she thought to herself.  
  
"Got something to say," Tom asked, slightly angry.  
  
"Nope," Diane replied an octave high and almost laughed at the sound of Dippet's voice like that. They walked to the Transfiguration room and sure enough, as Diane had said in the desk there was a telephone, but it didn't have any cords.  
  
"Doesn't it need to be hoooked up?" Tom asked.  
  
"Not daddy's," Diane replied, hitting the "0" button for the operator. She hit a button that turned on the speaker phone. "Don't say anything," Diane whispered.  
  
"Operator, how may I help you?" said a voice from the speaker.  
  
"What's the name of the orphanage?" Diane mouthed.  
  
"Er, Madame Kristina's Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Children," Tom whispered back.  
  
"I need the number to Madame Kristina's Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Children."  
  
"Right away, sir." They waited a few minutes before hearing a ring.  
  
"Madame Kristina's Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Children, this is Mary Alster, how may I help you?"  
  
Diane put on her most professional voice and said, "Miss Alster, I am Headmaster Dippet, I currently have custody of Tom Riddle, and I need to find out his mother's maiden name-for record purposes."  
  
"Let me check his records," Mary answered, a few minutes later she came back on the phone, "Mr. Dippet, his mother's maiden name is Rastaban. Is there anything else I may do for you."  
  
"No, madam, thank you."  
  
Diane was about to hang up when she realized that Mary Alster was saying something, "-how is Tom?"  
  
"He is all right, I just realized that there was a blank spot in his records and wanted to fill it in, thank you, good bye." Diane had hung up by the time Mary had said good bye. "See, that wasn't hard, Rastaban."  
  
"Thanks, Diane, want to come to the library with me, see if we can find some family tree?"  
  
"Sure, why not?"  
  
"Thanks, Diane, really."  
  
"Your welcome, it's better than wondering the castle anyroad." "sorda" Diane added to herself.  
  
"Let's start by maybe finding out what House she was in. Usually they have a little bit about a person in these books about everyone in a certain House."  
  
"I'm thinking probably Slytherin," Diane said, pulling out a huge volume when they got into the library.  
  
"No right Slytherin would go off and marry a muggle!" Tom said angrily. "I'm thinking Gryffindor," he said, pulling out another large volume.  
  
"They searched the pages for a little while before Tom exclaimed, "Found her!"  
  
Tom read aloud, "RASTABAN, RHEANNE-Gryffindor. Kicked out of Hogwarts before graduation. Tried to kill Head of Slytherin House. Married a muggle, died of cancer in muggle hospital."  
  
"She sounds lovely," Diane commented.  
  
"Erm, yeah," Tom said, getting up to find another book on her. Diane put up the two books and pulled out another entitled, Long Family Lines of Gryffindor.  
  
"Hope she's not in that," Tom commented, pulling out "Old Pureblood Family Lines"  
  
"Before my mum died, she said that her entire family was pureblood, except me, of course."  
  
"Oh," Diane answered, sure that once again he would have better luck than herself like before.  
  
She looked through the volume and was surprised to find something. She read the passage aloud to Tom.  
  
"RASTABAN-Gryffindors since 1010. Rastabans are known for not holding up Gryffindor values well, and seeking power often. Many of them were Prefects that abused their powers and five of them were kicked out of Hogwarts. Two have claimed to have the ability to speak Parseltongue. The last Rastaban alive was Rheanne Rastaban. The first Rastaban in Gryffindor was Rintarren, son of Ristamen Rastaban and Sylvia Slytherin."  
  
"So, I'm heir to Slytherin," Tom pondered.  
  
"That would be accurate," Diane said back.  
  
Tom rushed out of the library. "Tom, where are you going?" Diane asked but received no answer. She put away the books and ran after Tom. He was too quick and she didn't know where he went.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Diane didn't see Tom for another three days, but when he did he seemed slightly happy. "Gotten your letter yet?" he asked.  
  
That seemed like an odd question to Diane. "Erm, no, why?"  
  
"I was just helping your father write out the supplies list about ten minutes ago and he said that he was heading to the owlry."  
  
"Oh, maybe they haven't left yet or something, want to flying?" Diane asked, eager to change the subject.  
  
"Sure, I'll get my broom, meet you on the Quidditch Pitch."  
  
"Ace," Diane answered, practically running to get her own. They flew a while and watched all the owls take off in various directions- disappointedly Diane realize that none of them flew towards her. Unfortunately Tom realized, also.  
  
"None of them are coming here," he commented.  
  
"Erm, well, maybe my daddy's personally delivering mine," Diane said hopefully.  
  
"Maybe," Tom said. They went back to the castle an hour later, and bid each other farewell. Diane went to find her father. "Hey, daddy, why do you look so stressed?"  
  
"Diane, there's something I have to tell you," he said sadly.  
  
"What," Diane said, afraid of his next words.  
  
"You, you haven't shown signs of powers. You're-you're a squib, I'm sorry."  
  
"I hate the magical world, I'm going to go live as a muggle for the rest of my life!" Diane yelled through tears.  
  
"I've looked into that, I know some muggles that will be happy to take you for as long as you need. We can always owl, and you are always welcome," Albus Dumbledore said warmly.  
  
Diane ran off to cry, and left a few days later, returning to Hogwarts only twice.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
About nine years after Diane was discovered a squib and very few owls, Albus got a letter from Diane.  
  
Dear Father,  
  
I am getting married to Craig Evans on December 3rd. We are having a muggle wedding, and if you come-dress like a muggle, act like a muggle. Please don't owl, Craig doesn't exactly know about you and wizards yet.  
  
Love,  
  
Diane  
  
Albus longed to be closer to his daughter, and tried to be as muggle-like as possible, but she rarely even talked to him anymore. He developed a love for muggles because of his daughter, though he rarely saw her. Eventually they completely lost touch.  
  
  
  
A/N: I know it's short, but the chapters will get longer, I promise! Hope you liked, Chapter 1 should be up soon, as in real soon, I'm trying to post them at the same time. R&R! 


	2. Chapter 1: Lily's Surprise

A/N: Now we get to the whole James/Lily part. Well, mostly Lily, little bit of James and the marauders. And if anyone reviewed, thanx a bunch! If not, I guess it's understandable, but what you don't realize is that it doesn't take that much effort!  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter! JK Rowling does. So, don't sue the pants off me-if you do you will get my paint covered pair or my blood covered pair (don't ask or I'll kill you, too).  
  
Seven Years of Our Lives  
  
  
  
Chapter One: Lily's Surprise  
  
  
  
  
  
Lily slammed her door shut. She had just gotten into a row with Petunia. Their mum had promised both of them that she would take them both two different places at the same time. Lily had a party with some of her friends, and Petunia was supposed to meet with Alexander-her boyfriend, whom Lily thought was very ugly. He was fat, and quite mean.  
  
Lily's mum had promised that Petunia would be only a few minutes early and Lily only a few minutes late in the end.  
  
"It's not fair," Lily said to herself. She heard a soft hoot, and realized that she was not alone. On her bed lay a brown owl. She suppressed the urge to scream. It had a letter tied to it's feet. Shakily she took it from the owl.  
  
The envelope was made of old-looking parchment. She turned it over to open it. It was sealed with some sort of crest. It had an 'H' on it along with a lion, a snake, a badger, and a raven. She opened the note and a two pieces of parchment fell out.  
  
It read:  
  
Dear Miss Evans,  
  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl no later that July 31. Yours sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress  
  
Lily couldn't believe it, she was a witch! She ran downstairs. "Mum, I'm a witch!"  
  
"You are?" her mum answered, "and you got accepted into Hogwarts?"  
  
"Er, yeah, how did you know?"  
  
"My father was a wizard. So was my mum. Let me see your letter!" her mum exclaimed.  
  
Lily handed over the letter. Her mum withdrew the piece of parchment. "Wow, daddy's probably the headmaster now," her mum said to herself.  
  
"You mean the headmaster is.is my grandfather?" Lily asked, eyes wide with amazement. "I thought that your daddy went somewhere."  
  
"Yeah, I.I was what they called a.squib," her mum explained, "which means I was born into a wizarding family but I didn't have any powers."  
  
"Why don't you and grandfather ever talk?" Lily asked.  
  
"We used to owl-" Diana looked at her daughter's confused face, "we have owls carry our messages to each other. Daddy and I used to owl each other often, but I married your father, a muggle-someone without powers and not from a magical family."  
  
"What about Petunia?" Lily asked, "is she a witch, too?"  
  
"Er, no, she isn't," her mum answered. "Oh," Lily said.  
  
"Tomorrow, I'll take you to Diagon Alley, and we get your books and supplies, and even your wand!" her mum said.  
  
"Brill!" Lily exclaimed. "Wait-my party!"  
  
"We'll go day after tomorrow then! Leave your supply list with me."  
  
Lily left to her room in good spirits. She was a witch, and her grandfather was the headmaster. This year was going to fun. She was going to go to a better place than her older sister Petunia!  
  
Lily heard the front door shut. Her father was home. She wanted badly to run out and exclaimed, "Daddy, I'm a witch!" But something held her back. She knew she shouldn't go back downstairs.  
  
"Craig, I need to tell you something," Lily heard her mum say. She thought it might be that she was a witch, but her mum's tone was so gloomy. She heard them shut the door to their bedroom.  
  
"What?!" she heard her father yell. "She's not going to be a freak, she's not going to be like your freakish family!" She heard a crash, her father was going to drink again. She shakily crawled under her bed, tears streaming down her face.  
  
A few minutes after the heated row between her parents, her father stormed up the stairs. Lily heard his feet coming closer to her door. She heard Petunia turn her music up. Petunia always turned up her music when her father was angry, and pretended not to know anything of what went on when he was in a drunken rage.  
  
"Come out, you little freak," her father called to the seemingly empty room. "I know your in here!" Lily remained cowering under her bed. Her father spotted her bright green eyes. He grabbed her by the shirt and shook her. "What do you think your doing becoming a freak!" he demanded.  
  
"Daddy?" was all she could choke through her tears. Using his free arm he slapped her face. Lily just cried.  
  
"Your pathetic," he told her. He threw her against the wall. A bookend fell off a nearby shelf and hit her in the face. The only thing Lily could do was cry. Her father slammed her door shut and left to his own room.  
  
"What happened to you?" Lily looked up, Petunia was standing at the doorway, looking concerned.  
  
Lily sobbed, "Daddy got mad."  
  
Petunia understood what her little sister meant by "Daddy got mad." She went over and put an arm around her little sister's shoulder. The two fought a lot, but they were nice when the other was hurt. "Let me get a wash cloth for your face, there's a cut, and it looks like your going to have a bruise for a while."  
  
Lily wiped her eyes. She was glad her older sister was nice once in a while. She looked down at her hands. There was some blood from her cheek. Her sister returned with a wet wash cloth. Petunia gently washed Lily's face off. She gave her little sister a hug. "What was he mad about this time?" Petunia wondered aloud.  
  
"I-I'm a witch, and I'm going to go to a school to learn magic!" Lily announced proudly.  
  
"You mean you're a freak?" her sister asked flatly.  
  
"I'm not a freak!" Lily exclaimed, struggling not to cry again. Petunia couldn't help feeling bad for her sister.  
  
"I know, you can't choose these things, I'm sorry," Petunia said softly. "I'm not sorry! It's going to be fun!" Lily said.  
  
Petunia left the room shaking her head. Lily changed into her nightdress. "I'm not a freak!" she said to the mirror before falling asleep.  
  
In the morning Lily did her best to hide the big bruise with her hair. She ate little for breakfast. Her mum left extra early to drop off Petunia so that Lily would be on time for her party.  
  
"Don't tell your friends," her mum told her as they were driving to the house. "Yes, mum," answered Lily.  
  
At the party, she told each of her friends that she had to leave for boarding school. She told them it wasn't her first choice, but inside she was rejoicing. She was never really liked too much. She thought that Hogwarts might be the place she could fit in. A place she could finally fit in.  
  
As promised her mum took her to Diagon Alley the next day. She seemed to know many of the people there. To get there they went into a little pub called The Leaky Cauldron and her mum tapped the wall three times, and tickled the third brick to the left. "It's a trick for non- magic people-mostly muggle parents. When you get your wand, you'll just tap those three bricks."  
  
Lily nodded, but was amazed as the brick wall opened up to show an alley full of witches and wizards moving about.  
  
"Let's get you your wizard money first. I think I have a few galleons still in there, but if not we can convert some pounds." Lily nodded as they entered a large white building bearing the name Gringotts.  
  
They came out-her mum holding her money. "Let's get your books first. Then you can go get robes. While your getting fit, I'm going to go get something, I'll show you later. Then we'll go to the apothecary and get your potions supplies. And saving the best for last, we'll get your wand!"  
  
Lily could hardly wait. She wanted to do everything at once. Her mum got her schoolbooks for her and Lily looked around. She looked around at the other books. She stopped at one that looked particularly interesting. Make-up and Hair: The Best Spells by Celestia Cerubin.  
  
She moved to where a group of boys seemed to be making a lot of noise. She saw them pick up a book, Revenge: The Best Pranks. "Let's get this one!" a tall boy, about her own age, with dark hair exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, it looks good," said another boy, a lot like the first-except his hair was not as tidy and he wore round glasses. The two other boys just nodded. The first was an extremely skinny boy. He had sandy brown hair and was very pale. The other plump and had brown hair and freckles.  
  
Lily turned as if she was going somewhere else. They saw her first. "Who are you?" the first boy asked suspiciously.  
  
"Sirius, be nicer, anyroad, my name is James, James Potter," the first boy introduced himself and stuck out his hand.  
  
"Lily, Lily Evans," she answered.  
  
"These are my friends, Sirius Black (the rude one), Remus Lupin (the skinny one), and Peter Pettigrew (the plump one)."  
  
"Hi" they all chorused.  
  
"Hi, what year are you?" Lily asked. "First," they replied simultaneously.  
  
"Ace! Me, also!" Lily smiled.  
  
"What happened to your cheek?" James pointed at the large bruise.  
  
"Lily, time to go!" her mother called.  
  
"Just in time" Lily thought. "I have to go, but I'll see you at Hogwarts!" Lily waved to them.  
  
"Look for us on the train, you can sit in our compartment if you want," James offered.  
  
"I'll try," Lily said as she left.  
  
"Did you make some new friends?" asked her mum.  
  
"Yeah," Lily replied, looking at the owls.  
  
"Want one?" her mum asked.  
  
"Really? I can have one?!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"Sure, why not?" her mum answered. Lily practically ran into the store- Eeylops Owl Emporium. In the back there was a small snowy owl. She's beautiful, can I have her?" Lily asked.  
  
"Yes, you may have her," her mother smiled. She had always wanted a snowy owl-well, ever since she learned she could have them as pets.  
  
Next was Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.  
  
"Hogwarts, I presume?" asked the lady at the desk.  
  
"Er, yes," Lily answered.  
  
"Stand there," the lady commanded, she got a tape measure and brought it to Lily, "hold your arms out, I'm going to take some measurements. Lily did as she was told. The tape measure seemed-wait no, it did-move on it's own, a quill was writing notes on a piece of parchment-also on it's own.  
  
The lady left with the piece of parchment after the tape measure was done.  
  
"Hi, I'm Emily Everest."  
  
"Lily Evans, is this your first year to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Yes, you?"  
  
"Same."  
  
"Ace," Emily said smiling. "So, do you know anyone?"  
  
"Erm, not really, you?" "Me either," A woman looking similar to Emily-same dark hair and pale blue eyes-came in and gestured for Emily to come. "I have to go, I'll see you on the Express!  
  
"Ta ta for now!" Lily answered.  
  
The woman-probably her mum, picked up Emily's robes and walked out. Not soon after, her own mum came back with her snowy owl-the owl was the most beautiful owl she had ever seen!  
  
"Get your robes, now," her mum said to her as she was gaping at the beauty of the bird.  
  
"Okay!" Lily exclaimed. She grabbed her robes and gave the witch some of the funny-looking wizard's money and they walked out of the shop. "What are you going to name her?" Lily's mum asked. "Hm, I dunno." Lily said pondering. "Maybe something from early mythology."  
  
"Like Hera?" her mum suggested.  
  
"No, maybe something more like Aphrodite. I don't know yet. I'll look through some stuff later." Lily answered.  
  
"Ooh, ice-cream!" Lily exclaimed as they passed Florean Fortesque's Ice- cream Parlour.  
  
"I haven't had any of this in a long time. I wonder if they still have blue raspberry-cherry."  
  
"Hm, I think I'll have some of that, too!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"They went in and each got a scoop of ice-cream before they went to the apothecary and got the needed potions supplies. They went to the Quidditch shop and looked at some stuff, while Diane explained everything about Quidditch to her daughter.  
  
"And we save the best for last-let's go get your wand!"  
  
"My wand?" Lily answered.  
  
"Yes, I can't wait to see you get your wand! I used to watch other people get theirs, and I always dreamed of getting my own." Lily's mother looked so sad there.  
  
"So, do we just pick our favourite, or is someone trained to pick one for us?" Lily asked excitedly.  
  
"Oh, no, the wand chooses the witch," her mum said laughing.  
  
She saw a large sign over the shop, Ollivanders: Makers of fine Wands since 382 B.C. "Ah, Miss-es-Evans! How are you, haven't seen you around in a long time, pity you never got to get a wand. And this must be Miss Evans," he looked over her, she saw him pause at the bruise on her face in her reflection in his misty eyes.  
  
"The wand chooses the witch, Miss Evans," Lily now noticed that her mum was imitating Mr. Ollivander when she was told that, and she struggled not to laugh. "Let's see, which arm is you wand-hand. Er, I can use both, but usually I use my right-hand-for writing and stuff.  
  
"Hm, interesting, try this," he said handing her a wand, "Rosewood and unicorn hair, nine inches. Lily took it and stared at it. What exactly was she supposed to do with it. "Well, give it a wave!" Oh, so you're supposed to wave it, that was obvious. She gave herself a mental kick and waved it. The only thing that happened was that it fell strait to the ground.  
  
"Not quite right, try this-ten and a quarter inches long, swishy made of willow and heart string of dragon."  
  
She waved it towards some books and laughed at the thought of them actually floating-wait, they were! She smiled proudly.  
  
"Yes, perfect for you, that wand is really good for charms," Mr. Ollivander told her.  
  
Her mum paid him and they walked slowly back to The Leaky Cauldron, stopping only once.  
  
"We forgot to get you a trunk!" her mum said as they were about to enter the Leaky Cauldron. "Well, you could have one issued to you from Hogwarts, it will just arrive by owl, but there was this one trunk that I always wanted, it was so nice! I think you'd love it."  
  
"Okay, where is it?" Lily asked.  
  
"Follow me," her mum announced. They entered a shop quickly and made way to the back of the store. "Here it is!" Lily's mum exclaimed looking at a beautiful purple trunk with stars and a castle. "It's charmed to be feather light, and it's also charmed to have more space once you open it up.  
  
Lily thought the trunk looked a bit small, but opened it up to see a rather large space lined with what looked like silk. "You sure I can have it?"  
  
"Positive."  
  
They paid for the trunk and went home. Tomorrow was September 1st, and Lily would be leaving for Hogwarts then. She stayed up looking through some books in the "Evans Library" until she found the perfect name for her owl-Mira, it was the name of a star and meant "wonderful".  
  
Lily finally fell asleep a few minutes after climbing in bed, dreaming of wizards and a great big boarding school, full of people, and friends. 


	3. Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express

A/N: Hey guys, so sorry for not updating forever. It starts getting better now. My finger got jammed back and I had to have it in a splint and I could not type properly. Chapter Three is longer. I'm still working on it, but I like it so far. It should be coming along soon. Please, please review!! Flames are accepted. Flames will be used to threaten twin sisters who take to loooooooong to review. Or to burn incriminating evidence. Or to set the annoying school on fire. Or just the vice- principals and a few despised teachers. Oh, and sorry, there are a lot of changing of POV, but, trust me, it isn't that hard to find out whom, and I am very sorry about that. Most of it is third person or whatever you call it.  
  
DISCLAIMER: SEE FORMER CHAPTERS BECAUSE I AM TOO LAZY TO TYPE IT HERE!  
Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express  
  
Lily woke up and checked her watch. It read 5 A.M. Ugh, five endless hours before they left, six until the train left. She stared at the ceiling for another thirty minutes before deciding that going back to sleep would be impossible. She walked over to her trunk, checked her things, took another look at her wand and wondered downstairs.  
  
She turned on the television and turned the volume down low as quiet as she could without it being inaudible.  
  
"What are you doing up?" Go back to bed, and turn that off!" Petunia grumbled angrily.  
  
"Can't," Lily whispered loudly with glee . "Lillian!" Petunia whined.  
  
"Sh! You'll wake up mum and dad," Lily warned quietly.  
  
"What's all this racket?" Lily's mum had come out as if on cue.  
  
"I can't wait 'till 11:00!" Lily said anxiously.  
  
"I know, we're so proud of you! We have a witch in the family!" her mother told her with a smile. Even though Lily knew that the first "we" meant "her".  
  
"Guess dad changed his mind, must have been the alcohol," Petunia thought. "I want her to be quiet so that I can get some decent sleep!"  
  
"Petunia, dear, why don't you go back to your room, so that Lily and a I can have a talk about Hogwarts!" Lily beamed and Petunia groaned and walked up the stairs anyroad.  
  
"So what's it like?" Lily asked eagerly, moving from the armchair she was sitting to the couch with her mum.  
  
"Well.I haven't been there in a long while-of course, I was only there during the holidays, but it is a huge castle, right next to a lake."  
  
"Ooh, ace!" Lily exclaimed. Her mum put a finger over her lips meaning "Quiet!", and Lily nodded.  
  
"Definitely," her mum agreed in a whisper, "and there are four Houses- Gryffindor, probably the best, for the brave, daddy and most of my family were in that House, had I gone, I probably would have as well. Then there is Slytherin for the ambitious, and one of my best friends was a Slytherin though they produce the most dark witches and wizards alive, Ravenclaw-for the smart, and Hufflepuff for the kind.  
  
"I want to be in Gryffindor!" Lily decided, barely able to control her voice, "how do you find out what House you are in?"  
  
Diane debated over whether or not to spoil the surprise of the Sorting Hat to her daughter, or-like most wizarding parents did-keep it a secret. "You'll see," she finally answered.  
  
"Aw, Lily groaned. Maybe she wasn't supposed to know. What if it was some sort of test? What if she failed? What if they told her she wasn't kind enough for Hufflepuff? Not smart enough for Ravenclaw? Didn't have enough ambition for Slytherin? But, what worried her the most, what if she wasn't brave enough for Gryffindor in addition?! She suddenly got a feeling of dread in her stomach.  
  
Her mum seemed to read her thoughts, "It's okay. I know that you'll get in the best House for you-in a thousand years there has been only one complain about House placement. Scorpio Malfoy. The only Malfoy not put in Slytherin. The-Sorter, in a way, found out how most Malfoys turned out, since the Sorter was quite intelligent. It thought that in addition to his great ambition he was quite intelligent as well. He wasn't the main complainant though, his father was, but he was pulled anyroad and sent to Durmstrang. Other Malfoy's just sort of cast him out of the family in their view and all the others were Hogwarts Slytherin.  
  
"What if I'm put in Slytherin and become the second complaint?" Lily couldn't help thinking, but she managed a quick, "Oh."  
  
"So, what do you want for breakfast-let's have a feast for before you leave!"  
  
"Anything," Lily asked, running through breakfast foods in her head.  
  
"And everything," her mum smiled sweetly.  
  
"Erm," Lily thought, "How about fried bacon, pancakes, and banger."  
  
"Okay, do you want to help me cook-last chance until the holidays. We're going to grab some take out food for lunch on the way to King's Cross."  
  
"Sure-and a slice of grapefruit for Petunia's diet." Lily wished her sister would eat more-maybe she'd have some of the feast. She doubted it. Lily thought her sister was too skinny. Lily never saw her eat anything but fruit or vegetables. Petunia looked like a flagpole with a head, and a long neck. She had dark hair-like their father, it was really straight and thin, but she always got it permed. Lily on the other hand was thin, but not to thin and had thick, wavy, red hair.  
  
"Yes," her mum nodded. They cooked a grand breakfast by 7:00. It looked more like a feast. Well, technically it was a feast. Her dad was the first to be out of bed and be out and dressed.  
  
"What's this for?" her father grumbled.  
  
"It's Lily's going away feast!" her mum exclaimed. Her dad just grunted. "Want a rasher of bacon, daddy?" Lily offered nervously.  
  
"I have to leave-I'll just grab some take out food on the way to work," her said, not even taking one bite of their feast. Lily was disappointed, but she sat down with two pancakes, three rashers of bacon, and one banger.  
  
Petunia stumbled out of bed tiredly. She looked at the feast and her mum and Lily eating. "Where's my grapefruit?" she asked.  
  
"I'll get it," Lily offered. She disappointedly got up and cut a grapefruit in half and served it to her sister. By 8:00 the only Lily and her mum had eaten any of the feast.  
  
Lily decided to scan through some of her schoolbooks before she left. Then maybe she'd know a little bit. She wondered of they all knew more than she did. What if everyone else had grown up in all this and she was the only one who doesn't know anything?  
  
"Still worried about Hogwarts," her mum asked, ripping Lily from her thoughts.  
  
"Why do you ask?" Lily said, trying to keep a straight face.  
  
"Because you've been on 'Wingardium Leviosa' for ten minutes," her mum answered flatly. "What is it?"  
  
"Does everyone know magic when they first go to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Well, it depends on the person. Of heir parents were wizards, then they probably know a few household spells, if their parents were muggle (or non- magic people) and they studied their books-they probably know the words and such. But, a lot of them know just as much as you do, or less.  
  
"Oh," Lily said.  
  
"Come on, her mum announced, looking at the clock, let's go so we can trop off 'Tunia at Vernon's and grab some take out.  
  
"Okay, 'Tunia! Time to go!" Lily called, running up the stairs to put her books away and drag her trunk down, along with Mira, of course.  
  
Lily dragged her trunk down with little difficulty and her mum helped her drag her things out to the car. Lily opened Mira's cage and stroked her feathers.  
  
She shut the cage and put the owl in the middle of the back seat and climbed in, her mum had secured her trunk in the trunk of the car.  
  
Petunia came out in a different, prettier dress. She climbed in on the other side. "Ugh," Petunia exclaimed, "get that ruddy thing away from me!"  
  
"Fine," Lily sighed and switched places with the owl.  
  
Petunia and Lily didn't talk at all until they reached Vernon's.  
  
"Miss you," Lily called, only three-quarters lying.  
  
"Miss you, also," Petunia replied, only seven-eighths lying. Petunia hugged her little sister and whispered, "ruddy little git," not lying at all. Lily hugged her sister back and Petunia walked up to the door and not too long after she knocked, Vernon had opened the door and Petunia waved before walking in.  
  
"Let's stop by McDonald's and then onto King's Cross!" her mum announced.  
  
Lily and her mum talked a little bit about magic and Hogwarts before they reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare. Lily stayed in the car and finished her chips while her mum got a trolley and loaded her trunk and owl.  
  
"C'mon, we have to get you to platform 9 ¾."  
  
"Okay," Lily agreed. Platform Six, Platform Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten? "Er, mum, there is no Platform 9 ¾."  
  
"Follow me," her mum said, she took Lily's trolley and started to run into the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten! Lily did the same as her mum, as she got closer logic told her to stop-that she was going to crash, but she kept going and she hit the wall-no, she went through the wall! Before her was a beautiful scarlet train that had the name 'Hogwarts Express'.  
  
"Here," Lily snapped out of her trance. "Take your trunk and Mira onto the train and find your compartment. Bye! Love you!" They hugged and Lily took her stuff and found an empty compartment easily. About five minutes later a familiar face peered in.  
  
"Lily?"  
  
"Emily?" Lily asked.  
  
"Erm, hi, do you mind if I sit here?"  
  
"Not at all," Lily answered happily.  
  
"Thanks!" Emily answered, looking relieved.  
  
"So, erm, do you know any magic yet," Lily asked.  
  
"Er, no," Emily answered.  
  
"My mum is a witch, but my dad is a muggle. My mum doesn't use magic too often-only if my dad asks, isn't there, or doesn't care. She hasn't really taught me anything though. Do you know how we find out what House we are in, or anything about them? My mum just told me the names and the she was in Hufflepuff."  
  
"Er, I know about them-but not anything about the sorting."  
  
"Do tell."  
  
"Well, my grandfather," Lily decided not to tell her that he was the Headmaster, "was in Gryffindor, and that's which one I want to be in-it's for the brave. Then there's Ravenclaw, which is for those really smart people. Hufflepuff is for the kind. Then there is Slytherin, it's supposed to be for the ambitious, but it's had the most dark wizards and witches than any other House. " "Yes, Slytherin sucks and Gryffindor is the best," two identical redheaded girls stood outside their compartment.  
  
The redhead who had not agreed said, "Do you mind if we sit here? No other available compartments."  
  
"Not at all," Emily answered.  
  
"I'm Dana, she's Hannah," the first introduced.  
  
"Lily."  
  
"Emily."  
  
"Our entire family has been in Gryffindor," Hannah explained.  
  
"We're the youngest of eight," Dana added.  
  
"The closest sister of ours is a 3rd year."  
  
"The oldest brother, he's now married and has children."  
  
A few minutes later a blonde boy who looked about fourteen opened the door. "This is the wrong compartment, idiot!" he told a larger boy who looked about thirteen.  
  
"Er, well, I, er, thought you, uh, might want to criticise the newest weasels," the boy thought quickly.  
  
"Good, Goyle."  
  
"Ah, twin weasels? What have they gotten into? Do your parents still beg on the side of the street, weasels?"  
  
"Lucius Malfoy, prat-hole extraordinairre," Dana explained.  
  
"Of course, that's putting it nicely," Hannah added.  
  
"Never have, never will," Dana answered Malfoy.  
  
Hannah and Dana suddenly got identical malicious grins and asked together, "Your parents still begging You-Know-Who to be allowed grovel at his feet?"  
  
"Aw, little weasels afraid of a name,"  
  
"What, Vodemort?" they asked simultaneously.  
  
"But, you've got to be afraid of the ministry raiding-which, as a matter of fact, or brother happens to work for."  
  
The blonde looked almost afraid, and quickly changed the subject, "And look, the weasels are hanging out with a half-blood and a stupid little mudblood, what disgraceful company."  
  
"Stop harassing them!" James called, "You're the disgraceful company here." James withdrew is wand threateningly. "Go back to your own compartment and I won't curse you."  
  
"Ha," Malfoy laughed, "A little firstie, curse me?"  
  
"I'm telling the truth, go now if you don't want to be scratching your arse throughout the feast."  
  
Malfoy and his cronies pushed through James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, into the open compartment they had apparently come from-right next to them.  
  
Sirius turned quickly and whispered, "Itchinetos." Sirius smiled and followed James and Remus into the compartment. "They, I didn't say that I wouldn't curse him." Sirius said matter-of-factly.  
  
"That's mean," Lily jokingly scolded, "Brilliant, but mean."  
  
"So, what did you do to him?" Dana asked eagerly.  
  
"Same as James warned," Sirius answered.  
  
"We just got finished testing it on one of his friends in the next compartment. Severus Snape, a soon-to-be-sorted-into Slytherin."  
  
"Ace!" Dana and Hannah exclaimed together.  
  
"So, we haven't met yet," Hannah pointed out, "By the way, I'm Hannah, she's Dana," Hannah gestured to her sister.  
  
"Lily, and I believe we have met," Lily added formally.  
  
"Emily."  
  
"Hello, ma cherie, I am Sirius, the man of your dreams."  
  
"In yours," James retorted, "I'm James, the real man of your dreams."  
  
"Remus, the most sane and least egotistical of us, and James, Sirius, I believe you are referring to their nightmares."  
  
"How did you know?" Emily asked with a shy grin.  
  
"Peter," Peter said small, unable to come up with a remark as good as Sirius, James, or Remus.  
  
A few minutes later the witch with the cart came by.  
  
"May I but you a Pumpkin Pasty?" Sirius asked in a fake French accent.  
  
"And I, Every Flavour Beans?" James offered, copying the accent.  
  
"How about a chocolate frog?" Remus said, getting out money.  
  
"Another chocolate frog?" Peter asked after counting his money.  
  
"Sure," Hannah answered.  
  
"Why not?" Dana added.  
  
"Erm, if you want to," Lily answered hesitantly.  
  
"Hm-I guess," Emily answered, as equally hesitant as Lily.  
  
The boys bought the girls what they had offered and had a little money left over for themselves.  
  
"Every Flavour Beans?" Lily asked, looking for a guide on the box.  
  
"Yeah, every flavour. There's your normal stuff, like strawberry, chocolate, lemon-lime and such, and then there's also stuff like vomit, dirt, grass, and such," James explained.  
  
"Uh-huh," Emily said, looking down at the box.  
  
"What's this?" Lily asked, holding out a solid red one.  
  
"Either Cherry or Cinnamon," James answered, taking it from her. He bit have of it, "Definitely Cherry."  
  
"Hey," Lily exclaimed. Angrily she took it back and ate it, and to her joy it was Cherry flavoured.  
  
"Anyone for a game of Exploding Snap?" Peter asked.  
  
"Sure, we can teach these young ladies how it's played," Sirius said before the girls could ask.  
  
"Yeah," James and Remus agreed.  
  
"Sure," Dana agreed.  
  
Accompanied by Hannah's, "Why not?"  
  
"I guess so," Emily and Lily chorused.  
  
"What's this?" Emily held out a green bean to Remus.  
  
"Erm, you don't want that-Boogey flavoured," Remus concluded, throwing it at James, who ate it and made a face.  
  
"Disgusting, James!" Lily exclaimed, making a face similar to James's.  
  
"And oh so charming," James added with a smile.  
  
"In my nightmares," Lily answered, chuckling.  
  
"Aren't they cute!" Sirius exclaimed, "they're flirting!"  
  
"Ugh," Lily answered.  
  
"But you are. And you'll marry right out of Hogwarts and have ten kids!"  
  
"With him? Ew!" "With her? Ew!" they exclaimed simultaneoulsy.  
  
"Well, I feel complimented Lily said.  
  
"So you're allowed to insult me, but I'm not allowed to insult you?"  
  
"Exactly," Lily tried to keep a straight face, but she broke into a grin.  
  
"Tell him, Lily," Dana cheered.  
  
"Yeah, go Lily!" Hannah agreed.  
  
"Sorry, James."  
  
"Sorry, Lily."  
  
The rest of the train ride was spent playing exploding snap, James and Remus throwing Lily and Emily's "bad" Every Flavour Beans at each other. And of couse discussing jokes to play on Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe (so James, Sirius, and Remus had said his name was).  
  
Soon enough, the train came to a halt.  
  
"Firs' years o'er 'ere," called a very large man. He looked like a giant to Lily, and Emily, and they were slightly afraid, though James, Sirius, Remus, Dana, and Hannah could tell that he was only half-giant and knew that he was friendly, and were rather unafraid. Peter had met the guys in Diagon Alley, and was more petrified than the girls put together and tripled. "C'm along, now." Hagrid led them to the edge of a lake. In the lake there were several boats. "Four t' a boat, now, 'urry up!"  
  
"See ya," Lily said to James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.  
  
"See ya," they answered back. Shortly they got their first glimpse of Hogwarts. They all shared one thought-it was huge and magnificent.  
  
To James, Sirius, Remus, Dana, and Hannah it was a place full of people to play practical jokes on. To Emily it was a place of freedom. To Lily, it was the perfect escape. For Peter it was a place where he could make loyal friends. He hoped.  
  
Soon they were walking up the stone steps, getting ever closer to the beautiful castle. But before they got up to the door, a witch stopped them. The witch had dark hair that was pulled tightly into a bun.  
  
"I am Professor McGonagall. Now in a moment, you will enter the Great Hall and you will be sorted into your Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Wait here."  
  
Professor McGonagall walked back into the Great Hall and though the eight friends were towards the front, they couldn't even get a glimpse into the inside of the school.  
  
Moments later McGonagall came back out. "They're ready for you," she announced. The huge oak doors behind her swung open automatically. They walked in and stood between the two middle tables. They were right in front of the high table and between themselves and the table was a stool. And on that stool was a ragged old wizard's hat. To everyone's surprise, the hat began to sing.  
Oh, you may think I am an old and brown,  
  
Possibly broken down,  
  
But I have a task to do,  
  
To find the perfect House for you,  
  
Ten Centuries back,  
  
I was created with a task,  
  
To Sort students when the founders were gone,  
  
So why don't you just put me on,  
  
And find where you belong,  
Gryffindor may suit you,  
  
If your heart is bold and true,  
  
Or Ravenclaw may be your fancy,  
  
If intelligence is what I see,  
  
Slytherin you'll be in,  
  
If you're full of ambition,  
  
If you're a Hufflepuff I find,  
  
You're sure to be sweet and kind.  
  
Come forth young wizards and witches alike,  
  
Don't be afraid, I won't bite,  
  
Place me upon your head,  
  
And as I have said,  
  
I will find your place,  
  
So get that look of doubt off your face!  
  
"Abbot, Thomas," McGonagall read from a piece of parchment. It didn't take long for the hat to decide "HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Archwood, Anthony," was in Ravenclaw.  
  
"Black, Sirius," McGonagall called. Sirius approached it cautiously. She barely had set the hat on his head when it decided, "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius cleverly placed a fireworks grenade on the back rim of the hat, smiling he took his seat at the Gryffindor table.  
  
Lily began to get nervous again and her fears of not getting sorted came back. She was afraid they'd send her home on the train and she'd never see her new friends again. Petunia would laugh so hard.  
  
"Cabernet, Souverni," was sorted into Slytherin.  
  
"Dialas, Anna," was sorted into Ravenclaw.  
  
Lily went on worrying until she felt James hit her. "Ow, what was the for?" she whispered. James pointed up and McGonagall who had called her name for a second time.  
  
"Hm, interesting. Kind, smart, brave, and oh, let's not look at your past! Well, how about Gryffindor, sound good to you?"  
  
Lily had to restrain from leaping with joy, she sighed a breath of relief and thought, "Yes!"  
  
Emily was called next. She was thinking over and over, "Gryffindor, Gryffindor, please Gryffindor."  
  
"Hmmm," pondered the hat. "Gryffindor, eh?"  
  
"Please?" Emily thought weakly.  
  
"You would do well in Hufflepuff, but GRYFFINDOR it is!" Emily was relieved and sat next to Emily.  
  
There were four more Hufflepuffs sorted, five more Ravenclaws, and three more Slytherin. And then they got to Remus.  
  
"Lupin, Remus," he sat on the stool and put the hat on his head. "Oh, look at what you've been through, so strong! I know just the house for you," unfortunately at that moment the grenade had decided to go off right then. "GRYFFINDOR!" it coughed out. Everyone erupted in laughter.  
  
"Who did that?" McGonagall called sharply. The whole Hall was silent now, looking around. "Confess now!" Still no one answered. She shook her head and called "Marstill, Jake," who was sorted into Hufflepuff.  
  
"Malfoy, Sleyth," McGonagall called.  
  
"I thought Malfoy was older!" Emily whispered to Remus.  
  
"Little brother," Remus explained, while glancing at the Slytherin table, happy t see that Sirius's spell was taking effect. He snickered and the other three glanced that way before seeing a blonde boy-almost a younger version of Lucius sit on the stool. He didn't even put the hat completely on before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
One more Hufflepuff, two more Ravenclaws and one Slytherin was sorted before McGonagall called, "Pettigrew, Peter."  
  
A shaking Peter walked up to the stool and slowly put the hat on his head.  
  
"It's okay, I don't bite," the hat assured the scared boy. "Okay, hmmmm, it seemed behind you cowardice and willingness to follow there is a thirst for power and recognition. How about Slytherin?"  
  
Peter suppressed the urge to shout, "No!" and run back to the Express. The hat got the message.  
  
"No, then, which House would you like, erm." the hat trailed off in thought.  
  
"Gryffindor?" Peter thought suggestively.  
  
"Oh.all right then GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Potter, James," McGonagall called. James approached the stool confidently. "Hmm, Gryffindor sounds good, GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Ranier, Raquel," was sorted into Ravenclaw.  
  
"Snape, Severus," the hat called.  
  
Severus coolly walked up and put the hat on his head. "Ah, you would do well in Gryffindor!" the hat told him.  
  
"I most certainly would not!" Severus argued, thinking of the words of his step-father.  
  
"You sure you want to be a Slytherin?" asked the hat.  
  
"Erm, positive," Severus said, sealing his fate as the hat yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"I'm hungry!" Sirius whined.  
  
"You're always hungry," Remus retorted.  
  
"It is a record though," James said glancing at his watch, "over five minutes without complaining for about food."  
  
"Oy, shut it James!" They're complaining lasted through the sorting of a Hufflepuff, three more Slytherins and one more Ravenclaw.  
  
"Verda, Vivian," was sorted into Hufflepuff.  
  
"Weasley, Dana," McGonagall called.  
  
Dana approached the stool and she put the hat on her head, "Weasley-again," the hat sighed, "that phrase is really getting old. GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Hannah was already standing at the stool by the time McGonagall had called her name, being last and all. She placed the hat on her head.  
  
"I was waiting for the twins," the hat told her, "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
The Headmaster stood up and for the first time Lily looked at him-her grandfather. Well, at least she that that was her grandfather.  
  
He smiled kindly at her and she knew that he was her grandfather. He proceeded to the regular announcements. When mentioning the part about the Forbidden Forest, Lily could have sworn he glanced in their direction. Actually it was probably for James and Sirius mainly. "He almost rolled his eyes when listing the objects added to the 'forbidden' list. She assumed that Sirius and James each probably had the entire list (which was posted in Filch's office) in their trunks.  
  
No one was more happy than Sirius when Dumbledore made the food magically appear on the table. Was it just her, or did Sirius eat half of the things on the table before he stopped to 'let things digest'.  
  
"Hullo!" a translucent head popped up from the chicken legs-well, the few that Sirius had left.  
  
"Hello, Sir Nicholas," Hannah and Dana chorused.  
  
"Ah, more Weasleys! How are you two?"  
  
"Good," they answered simultaneously.  
  
"How was," Hannah started, "your summer," Dana finished.  
  
"Dismal," Sir Nicholas replied, "I ghost-owled a group called the headless horse hunt, but they would not let me join because my head was not properly severed."  
  
"Aw," Dana started, "that stinks," Hannah finished.  
  
"Yes, anyroad, to all of you, I am the Gryffindor ghost. You may ask me anything about Hogwarts and where to go."  
  
"Thanks," Lily was the first to say, followed by Emily and eventually the rest of them, ending in James and Sirius.  
  
"Hey, Sir Nicholas, what did you mean by 'not properly severed'?" Lily asked.  
  
"This," Sir Nicholas said, promptly knocking his head to the side, it was holding on by only a few centimetres of skin.  
  
"Ew!" the girls exclaimed at the same time the boys were exclaiming, "Brilliant!"  
  
Half an hour later Dumbledore announced the end of the feast and a Prefect was leading them to a portrait of a fat lady where they stopped.  
  
"Password?" the lady asked.  
  
"Dragon heart," the prefect replied. The portrait swung open, revealing a beautiful room, decked in red and gold. They followed the Prefect into the room, which had several couches, chairs, and tables to do homework on. "This is the Common Room," the Prefect told them. The girls' dormitory is up the staircase and to the right and the boys' is on the left.  
  
They ambled up the stairs, quite tried and ready to go to sleep. They said a quick "Goodnight," to their dorm-mates and slept in the large four-poster beds.  
A/N: Phew. Still sorry for taking too long to update. I know, the sorting hat song wasn't all that good. Please review. Oh, and if you have any jokes you want to see you can e-mail them to me, IM them to me, or say so in a review. I have Chapter 3 written in my notebook, and will hopefully type it soon. Thanks so much, and please review!  
  
Catsy-Thankyou so much, I feel loved! 


	4. Chapter 3: Gryffindor and Slytherin

A/N: Muhahaha, another chapter. Oh, and I have Dana and Hannah finishing each other's sentences and thoughts without exactly labelling who said it. Just understand that if they are there and thoughts are being completed it's probably those two. I haven't been getting many reviews. It's making me sad.

DISCLAIMER: I own not the characters. If you decide to sue my pants off you will get my paint-covered pair or my blood-covered pair!

****

Chapter 3: Gryffindor and Slytherin

Lily awoke about 2:00 A.M. She sighed and tried to go back to sleep. She realised it was pointless about a half-hour later, so she put on her dressing gown and silently slipped through the portrait hole. She wondered the halls a bit, making sure to avoid 'that creep cat'. She found an open classroom door and went in. She sat on the ledge in front of a bay window. She looked out the window and noticed that someone was planting a willow, in the middle of the night! The willow seemed quite odd though, it was thrashing about! Those two things seemed quite off to her.

She didn't have too much time to ponder on that before she realised that she was not alone. She turned around that there stood…Severus Snape? "How-how long have you been there?" Lily asked nervously.

"Longer than you have," he answered.

"Oh," Lily figured that was why the door was left open. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," he retorted.

"Er, couldn't sleep," Lily answered after an awkward silence.

"Madame Tyre has something for that," he answered.

"Mm, thinking then," Lily said, somewhat defensively.

To Lily's surprise he nodded and said, "Same here."

"About?" she asked kindly, now curious as well.

"Stuff," Severus answered, slightly angry.

"Oh," Lily said. There was an awkward silence. 

"So, erm, what are you thinking about?" Severus finally asked.

Lily thought about telling him "_stuff_," as he had said to her. Or she could open up to the Slytherin. That was absurd! Despite his House, something told her that he was all right to talk to, "Er, family stuff. How glad I am to be here."

"Really?" Severus answered. He wondered just how like him this Gryffindor was.

"Your turn," Lily told him.

"Huh?" Severus was lost in his thoughts.

"I told you, now you tell me, and no more of this 'stuff' business."

Severus sighed, "Same as you, as a matter of fact."

"Come on. Elaborate."

"Well, my dad died five years ago, my mum re-married two months later. My step-dad is a nightmare." "_Did I just say that to a bloody Gryffindor?!_" Severus thought to himself.

"So's my dad, especially when he's drunk," Lily said, not caring to add, "_and even worse when it comes to magic_."

"Yeah, isn't that awful," Severus found himself smiling at the beautiful Gryffindor. Wait, did he just think a Gryffindor beautiful? "Maybe that stupid hat was right." Unfortunately he said his last thought.

"Stupid hat was right?" Lily asked in confusion.

"The hat said I would to well in Gryffindor."

"Then why are you in Slytherin? I'm sure G—Dumbledore would let you be re-sorted."

"No," Severus answered too quickly. "My step-dad would kill me and send me to Beauxbatons or something." He knew that Durmstrang was out of the question. His mum vowed never to let him go there. His own dad went there, and so his step-dad would never let him go.

"Beauxbatons?" Lily asked.

"School for sissies," Severus explained.

"Oh," Lily said.

"Are you a mud—muggleborn?"

"Mud-muggleborn? My father is a muggle, my mum is a squib. Does that count?"

Severus laughed. "No, half-blood. I guess. Sort of. They're actually called 'muggleborn'. I almost said 'mudblood'; something my step-dad would call you. It's just a really fowl name for muggleborns.

"Oh," Lily said—again.

"You say that a lot, don't you?"

"Erm, yeah, I guess I do."

"We should probably get back to our dormitory. Don't get caught."

"I won't if you don't," Lily joked. They laughed and exited the classroom, heading in opposite directions. Lily snuck back up to her dormitory, and climbed silently into her bed.

Lily awoke the next morning with a bounce—literally. "Good morning!" Dana called way too cheerily, at the same time Hannah said that to Emily. The twins were jumping on their beds!

"Goodnight," Emily answered. 

"Good sleep," Lily added as she rolled over and tried to ignore the bouncing.

"Classes," Hannah reminded them.

"Sleep," Lily told them.

"First day," Dana reminded them.

"Sleep!" Emily said.

"Looks like we have to go to desperate measures," the twins said, smiling at each other. "One, two, three," they counted together before tearing off the blankets and doing a seat drop.

"Hey!" Emily said groggily.

"That wasn't nice," Lily added

.

"Compared to what we could do," Hannah started. "And what we might do," Dana added, "that _was_ nice."

"Like ice-cold water," Hannah grinned evilly.

"Or tickling endlessly," Dana's grin matched Hannah's.

"Get up—"

"And we won't have to do those."

"Simple as—"

"That."

"What if we just let you sleep and you missed breakfast?" Dana asked.

"Hmm?" Hannah prompted as Emily and Lily reluctantly began to get dressed.

"Then you'd be in trouble, correct?" Dana added.

"I guess," Lily answered, brushing her hair.

"So we can't be _that_ mean, now can we?" Hannah said.

"How did you two get up so early, anyroad?" Emily asked.

"It's called six older siblings," Dana explained.

"Excluding each other of course. They _always_ wake us up early, they're used get used to Hogwarts' times."

Emily and Lily finished getting ready fast and then 'power-walked' to the Great Hall where a little under half of the Hall was already eating. Timetables were passed out. First was Transfiguration followed by Water Magic and Double Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius gobbled up breakfast and James ate just about as much, though slightly tamer. The girls, Remus and Peter were the first to finish.

"Hi, Melody!" Dana called to her sister. She was a third-year. Melody waved back. "Divination, got to get up to the top of the tower, see you two later.

"Hey, Hannah, Dana, what do you guys have first today. I have Care of Magical Creatures, I can't wait!" The boys, Emily and Lily realised the girl as the Prefect who had led them to Gryffindor Tower.

"Hey, Samantha!" Hannah greeted.

"We have Transfiguration," Dana added.

"Those are two of our sisters," Hannah explained.

"Yeah, Melody or Mel and Samantha or Sam, if you didn't notice," Dana elaborated.

"Your attention please," Dumbledore called. The Hall looked up towards him.

"This year, we have decided to announce the Head Boy and Girl at breakfast, because the choice was very difficult. Our Head Girl is Gryffindor Annabelle Weasley, and Head Boy is Ravenclaw Scott Cleese. You two may come up here to collect your badges, and we are sorry that it took so long to get these to you both."

Annabelle walked up and got her badge along with a piece of parchment. She nodded at Scott, and went over to Dana and Hannah.

"Where's Sam and Mel?" she asked.

"They went to class already," Hannah explained.

"Mel had Divination and Sam had Care of Magical Creatures," Dana explained.

"Okay, then," Annabelle said, sitting down.

"Congratulations."

"We knew it'd be you."

"Yeah, you got so upset."

"Over nothing."

"Yeah, I guess I did, Dane, Han." Annabelle said.

"These are our friends," Hannah began.

"Lily, Emily, Remus, James, and Peter," Dana said, pointing them out.

"I'm Ann, nice to meet you Lil, Em, Reme, Jay, and Pete."

"Dear Anne here," Hannah began.

"Has a thing for shortening names," Dana finished.

They nodded and got up to go to Transfiguration.

"So, erm, who here happens to know _where_ the Transfiguration classroom _is_?" Emily asked after about a minute of wondering aimlessly.

"Erm," was all that James answered. He looked to the other embarrassed faces.

"We could always ask Sir Nicholas?" Lily sugested, "he's probably been here long enough."

"Or another ghost, like him," Peter pointed to what was actually a Poltergeist.

"Sure, I'll ask," Sirius offered, realising that is was a Poltergeist, but didn't bother to inform Peter. 

"Erm, guys," Hannah began. "I don't think—" Dana was interrupted by Sirius.

"Hey! You! Where's the Transfiguration classroom?" Sirius asked.

"Aw," said the poltergeist, "little firsties lost their way," he said in mock-sympathy. The poltergeist took a bundle of water balloons, seemingly out of no where.

"Run!" Peter screamed before being the first to dash off, though not too much later he was bringing up the rear.

"We tried to warn you!" Dana panted.

"Yeah, shouldn't mess with Peeves, Peeves the Poltergeist."

SPLASH! Poor Peter was drenched, and the splash got the girls we as well. Peeves chucked another water balloon at them, tripping Sirius and sending the girls plus Peter on top of him."

"Hullo, beautifuls," Sirius said flirtingly to the girls.

"Let's snog," Hannah suggested.

"And do unspeakable things," Dana returned his flirty smile.

"Okay, there's a nice broom cupboard over there, or there's no one in the Common Room right now—a couch is more comfortable anyroad," Sirius fought a laugh. He received a double smack, one from each side. Maybe that _wasn't _the wisest thing to say…

"Sirius, I think the proper response was 'maybe when I get to know you a little better'," Remus advised as he helped Emily off of Sirius. Peeves threw the rest of the water balloons and ran off laughing. Luckily, Annabelle found them and told them that the Transfiguration room was not too far in the opposite direction.

"Shouldn't we change?" Emily suggested.

James glanced at his watch, "Not enough time," he told them as they came up to the open door of the Transfiguration Room.

"Just in time—oh—" McGonagall looked them over. "Whyt are you eight wet?"

"Erm, Peeves," Hannah answered.

"We went down the wrong corridor and he began throwing water balloons at us," Dana explained in greater detail.

"Well, then, go and change and I won't punish your for your tardiness," McGonagall told them sternly.

"Think we can get out of the whole class?" Sirius asked seriously.

"Probably not," Lily told them, "wouldn't be right, anyroad."

"It'd be fun though," James pointed out.

"Getting expelled on our first day wouldn't!" Emily argued.

"Your right, better wait until third-year," Sirius nodded. Dana and Hannah hit him again. "Ouch! What was that for!"

"We're not here to get expelled!" Hannah said.

"Just here for Dumbledore to threaten to do so because of our pranks," Dana added.

"Yes, mum," Sirius said to Hannah, while winking at Dana.

They changed and went back to Transfiguration (with much protest from Sirius). In the end, only James had managed to turn a match-stick into a needle. Of course, he had asked his dad about the first day of school and his dad had taught him everything that he would be doing in his first classes. (A/N: Cheater!)

"Water magic next," Lily announced, "with Slytherin."

"Ace!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Woah, Sirius, we should take you to St. Mungo's **now**! You just rejoiced at having a class with a Slytherins," James said. Lily scowled slightly, not that they noticed.

"We get to watch Malfoy drown!" Sirius added, angry at the interruption.

"That _would_ be nice," James pondered. Lily hit his arm. "Ow! Hey!"

"We must wait," Remus explained, earning himself a hit from Emily.

"We have to get to the lake, c'mon," Lily urged, taking the lead to hide the fact that she was smiling at the thought.

They walked down to the lake and right in front of it a man in dark aqua blue robes that they assumed was their professor stood with his arms across his chest. He was surprisingly tall, though not as tall as Hagrid. He had medium-dark brown hair and a matching beard, both of which curled.

"I am Professor Poseidon," he announced, there were a few sniggers at the name. "And today, we will be working on simple life-saving charms. May I have a volunteer?" To no one's surprise, no one raised their hand. "Well, then, you," Professor Poseidon pointed at Lily.

"She will help me demonstrate today's lesson," he told the class, "Name?" he asked quieter.

"Evans, Lily Evans," Lily answered, slightly frightened.

"Miss Evans, the spell is _Ascendia Surfacus!_"

"Erm, should I not be wearing my swimming costume?" Lily asked him.

"No, I'll perform a simple drying charm when you are finished."

"O—kay," Lily stood there.

"Oh, yes, Let's practice the incantation and wand movement. When doing water magic from underneath the water, one must bring their wand downwards and flick, if possible, if no, do the closest you can. I will inspect each of your wand movements before you go. Miss Evans?" She shakily imitated him the best she could—bringing her wand down slowly in front of her and flicked her wrist. "Not bad," the Professor told her.

"Now we will say the spell in unison. One, two, three. _Ascendia Surfacus!_" Good enough, now Miss Evans."

"_Gravis Auctito!_" Lily felt her weight begin to increase. "_Mobilcorpus!_" and he moved her to toward the lake. "When you are fully submerged, use the spell," he told her as he took off the spell holding her above the lake.

Lily panicked. How could she say the spell under water?! She tried swimming upwards, but that didn't seem to be working. Well, she could always try the spell. She brought her wand down (slowly seeing as she was sinking further under water) and sort of flicked her wrist, saying, "_Ascendia Surfacus!_" though all that came out were air bubbles. She continued to sink lower, still panicking, she waved her limbs about furiously, struggling to get to the surface.

  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile on the surface...

James watched her fall. He began to glance between the water and his watch. Twenty seconds. "C'mon, Lily!" he whispered to himself between swear words.

"We have to do something!" James told the class and the Professor.

"She'll come up in time," he told James almost as if hi didn't care, glancing at the surface for a second before returning his stern gaze to the class.

James couldn't take it any longer. At Poseidon's next glance to the surface, James took off at a run and dived (though it was looked almost like a stomach flop, since he didn't know the depth of the water and didn't want to crack his head open) down searching for Lily. He swam and caught a glimpse of something thrashing underwater in the distance. "_Must be Lily,_" he thought to himself. He wam towards her and grabbed her waist. Luckily she stopped moving. James brought down his wand, thinking more than speaking, "_Ascendia Surfacus!_" They rose up and Lily was gasping for air.

"_Exuro!_" Poseidon pointed his wand at the two.

"Five points from Gryffindor for your impatience, Mister—"

"Potter," James answered.

"Potter, and say thirty points to Gryffindor for saving a fellow classmate. You," Poseidon pointed at Malfoy, "wand movement and go." Malfoy did as he was told.

Slyeth Malfoy didn't seem to come up. After five minutes though, a barely conscious body was carried to the surface by the merpeople. Poseidon thanked them in mer-tongue and everyone else in the class failed.

When the class was over Poseidon spike to them all, "I want an essay next Monday on _why_ your charm didn't work, except Mister Potter, and essay on why yours _did _work. Three decimetres for those who failed, one and a half for Mister Potter. You may go."

They headed back to the castle bound for the Great Hall. "Great show, Jamsie boy," Sirius said as they sat down and began to eat.

"Merpeople," James muttered, "how was I supposed to know that the bloody merpeople were going to save her?"

"Erm, thanks James," Lily finally said, now that she was no longer shaking.

"But do you really think that Poseidon would let her drown," Remus asked the frustrated James.

"I dunno, maybe he was pissed (drunk for you Yankee folks and the like)," James suggested.

"Or delusional," Sirius added.

"Yeah, I guess I was just worried for her," James confessed.

"That's because Jamsie boy is in loooove," Sirius joked.

"Am not!" Lily tried unsuccessfully to look hurt, "would have done the same for anyone, except a slimy Slytherin of course." James sounded angry. Well, he was dissing Slytherin, couldn't be too mad.

"They're not all 'slimy'," Lily said quietly.

"Really?" James asked, "Name one."

"Severus Snape," Lily said quiet, but confident.

"Him?!" all but Emily exclaimed.

"Lil, he has got to have the slimiest hair in all of Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed.

"And how would you _know_?!" James interrogated. "_Was that a hint of jealousy?_" Lily thought.

"I talked to him," Lily told him with a hint of mystery.

"We've only been her a day! And we've been with you the entire time! Well, except in the morning, but Dana, Hannah, and Emily were with you then, and none of them saw you!" James was practically shouting, but he looked quickly to Kana, Hannah, and Emily who nodded and cowered slightly.

"You guys were asleep," Lily said simply and slightly angry.

"Asleep?!" James yelled, "You woke up in the middle of the night to talk to a clotted Slytherin!"

"I didn't intend to talk to him, he was just there," Lily defended, quite upset.

"James, calm down," Remus held James back, "Maybe she didn't know he was a Slytherin at first."

"Or maybe they aren't all that bad," Lily retorted. She stormed off toward the dormitory with Emily, Dana, and Hannah following her. Not as much for the fact as they agreed with her, but more so that they were worried about their friend.

Lily eventually shooed her friends away. She was so furious at James. He was so prejudice! She got up and wondered the halls a bit before somehow ending up in the same empty classroom as last night.

"I heard your row with your friends," Severus came out from behind her. "Took you long enough to get here," he smiled kindly.

"My other friends wouldn't leave me alone. Mostly about you," Lily told him, excluding the fact that Dana and Hannah were trying to convince her that he would kill her the next time he saw her. "Anyroad, what brings you here—again?"

"You. I told you, I heard the row."

"Oh," lily answered, tring to fill the awkward silence. She glanced at her watch. "Erm, I have to go to Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Same here," Severus said. Lily walked two paces before galncing back at Severus.

"Coming?" she asked.

"Can't with you. My friends would be worse knowing about you than your friends me."

Lily answered the unspoken question, "Don't worry, my friends won't tell, they're probably ashamed that I'm even talking to a Slytherin. Not that I have a problem with it, but… See you in class." She walked out curious why Slytherins and Gryffindors hated each other so much.

She went in and found only two empty seats—one next to James and another next to Peter, with Sirius and Remus in between her and James. She was lucky to glance at her watch because at that exact moment the Professor came in.

"I am Professor Lesath," she said icily. She was in solid black robes. She was also pale and her blonde hair was almost white. "Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Today, we will start working with something quite simple—pixies. I want an essay on how to defend yourself from pixies by Wednesday. You may pair up for notes. 

The door opened revealing Severus. "You're late. Forty points from Slytherin and a detention. Notes, now, pair up." Severus walked over to Avery and Rosier. They shrugged at him apologetically and he headed to sit with Anora Jasper, a Slytherin girl he had not talked to yet, whom was still without a partner.

"Peter," Lily said quickly. She decided to ask him, assuming that he would be the only one of the guys that could give her a proper answer and that Dana's and Hannah's would be similar. Emily would probably have no idea.

Lily opened her book. "Peter," she whispered.

"Hm?" Peter was already leafing through the book.

"Why do Gryffindors hate Slytherins and vice-versa?" Lily asked in a quiet voice.

Peter stopped and looked like he was concentrating hard, like trying to remember something. "Erm, because Slytherins are slimy, disgusting—no!" Peter paused thinking, "Disgusting, slimy, that's it! Little gits—no prats and, er, a—arseholes!" Peter finished. Unfortunately his voice had grown louder.

"Pettigrew, detention, you will _not_ use that kind of language in my class. 

Evans, join," Lesath paused and looked around, "Lupin's group. Mister Pettigrew will be working alone for the remainder of the class period."

"James and Sirius told you that, correct?" Lily said, wondering herself why she didn't include Remus's name, as she picked up her stuff to work with Remus and Emily. Peter nodded as went to work on his own.

"Hi," Lily whispered.

"So what do you got?" Remus asked, referring to the notes.

"It's 'have', not 'got'," Lily corrected in jest.

"Oh, sorry," Remus said, slightly embarrassed.

"You shouldn't be. I'm used to correcting people, school is about the only time I really got attention with Petunia and all her social stuff."

"Oh, okay, what do you have?" Remus reiterated.

"Nothing, Peter and I were just talking about the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"Still mad at James?" Remus asked. Emily was the only one of the three actually writing notes, vaguely listening to the other two.

Lily nodded. "Do you know anything about it that does not involve insulting them to no end?" Lily asked hopefully. Well, Remus wasn't as gullible as poor Peter—maybe he had an answer, a real answer.

"I don't know that much, just that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor—two of the founders, had a big rivalry going on. Slythering began to feel as if they weren't admitting only 'worthy' students. Godric Gryffindor began to challenge him by lowering the admission standards. Godric Gryffindor taught the students of his House that they were better than Slytherin, to challenge them, and Slytherin told his students the same. 

"That sort of makes sense, but why is it still around. That was almost a thousand years ago, was it not?"

"Yeah, it was. I guess that since many families are sorted into the same House, the ideas were just passed down. And spread among friends and of course rivalries are built up, which pushes it to the opposite House. And the two Houses are often competing for top spot. James just files under all categories. His entire family has been in Gryffindor and James is very competitive. Plus Sirius, they've been real good friends since they were babies. His parents were Gryffindors as well, and in the same year. Their mums were best friends as were their dads. They do everything together."

"How long have you and Peter known them?" Lily asked, thinking less about the competitiveness.

"Well," Remus began, "We moved into their neighbourhood about four years ago. Because they had a good local apothecary." Remus stopped as if he had said too much.

"What about Peter?" Lily asked, noticing her friend's discomfort.

"Oh, we met him in the Leaky Cauldron. Well outside it actually. He was trying to convince his parents that he could see it, and they could not. His parents are muggles, by the way."

"Ah," Lily said.

"Yeah, so we told him all about Hogwarts, the Houses, Quidditch and such," Remus concluded, forgetting he had come dangerously close to letting out his secret.

"Quidditch?" Lily asked.

"A game played on broomsticks. I'll explain later," he said quietly as he noticed Lesath gliding, well, it looked like gliding, towards them. Lily and Remus busily picked up their quills to look as if they were on task. Lily and Remus managed to write for a few minutes, but it was nothing compared to what Emily had come up with.

The eight of them combined their notes to write their Defence Against the Dark Arts essay before dinner. They used mostly Emily's notes. James and Sirius had only managed about five sentences actually on pixies. They couldn't decipher most of the rest of it and gave up quickly.

"Hey, James," Remus beckoned once they were all back to the Common Room and comfortable. James put away his quill and sat over by Remus in a corner.

"What?" James asked his friend.

"It's about Lily. You need to apologise to her," Remus told him in all seriousness.

"Why," James asked hotly, "she befriended a Slytherin for heaven's sake! Severus Snape, no less."

"James, calm down, darn it!" It's her _personal_ life. You really offended and embarrassed her back in the Great Hall."

"She's conversing with the enemy!" 

"What enemy, James? We don't even know him. Is there a war between Slytherin and Gryffindor I haven't heard of, because right now, the only war I can think of that is going on is the one with You-Know-Who!" Remus said hotly. He seemed to calm slightly and added, "We don't know him. He could be different than the others. He has got to be if one of our friends, a trustable Gryffindor, is conversing with him. Apologise to Lily."

James looked away from where he knew Lily was, which happened to be out a window. Remus followed his gaze and paled. "Oh sh—," he stopped mid-word, "Got to go," he said in a panicked tone of voice before running out the dormitory quick as lightning.

Remus was now second on James's mind. First he would talk to Lily, before he lost his confidence.

"Lily," he approached her cautionsly. She was reading some muggle novel.

"Hm," she answered, not looking up.

"I'm sorry," he told her.

"For?" she asked. She wasn't looking at him quite yet, but her eyes definitely weren't focused on the page of the book. It was a start.  


"Hurting you. I don't really know about Snape," James grimaced at the name, luckily her bright green eyes weren't focused on him yet, "I judged him before knowing him. I guess I'm sorry for insulting your judgement, also."

Lily stared at him. What was she supposed to say? "I accept your apology."

"Are you still mad at me?" James asked.

"Erm, a little, not that much though," Lily told him truthfully. "Why do you hate Slytherins though?"

"Because I am a Gryffindor," he answered. "_Oh, no, I'm in for it now,_" James thought.

"So am I," Lily said, eyes trailing ever closer back to the page of her novel. "_Now he'll have to give me an honest answer,_" she thought to herself. James panicked and began to think fast.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Remus ran as fast as he could to the Hospital Wing. "You're late!" Madame Tyre, the matron, exclaimed. She led him to the new willow. Remus looked at her in confusion. She summoned a long stick. Remus stepped closer to the willow. Whack! One of the limbs hit him painfully on the left shoulder. She prodded a knot with the stick and the thrashing tree stilled. "Come," she instructed. They walked very quickly along a tunnel. She opened a trap door to a house with simple, somewhat old furniture.

"Go in, I'll lock it behind you," Madame Tyre instructed.

"I'm not being kept in a cage?!" he asked her incredulously.

"Of course not! Anyone who dare do that to you is—" she stopped, realising she was about to say something that she wouldn't dare say in front of a Seventh-Year, let alone a First. "I'll see you in the morning," she smiled before locking the trap door and proceeding back to Hogwarts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I've just heard that they went power all the time, and the history of Slytherin is full of Dark Wizards," James finally told her.

"That's just the stereotype, you know. One or two could be different," Lily pointed out.

"Sure, I just didn't want you to get involved with any of them," James said, "_Whoops, not the right thing to say,_" James quickly added, "because I don't want you hurt. Or taken advantage of."

That was good enough for Lily. She smiled and said, "I'm not mad at you now. I'm going to bed, I'm tired."

"_Bet you are_," James thought to himself, though saying, "Goodnight." That gave him an idea. Once Lily was safely tucked away in her dormitory James called out to his friend.

"Sirius!" Sirius looked up from a book. Wait. Sirius has a book?! He can read something that doesn't have pictures? James paused and looked at the book. Location Charms?! _"Did I miss an essay somewhere?_" he thought to himself. James pushed those frightening thoughts out of his mind. "We're going Slytherin hunting."

Sirius's whole face brightened up. "Slytherin hunting, eh? Sounds good to me. Who? When? How?"

"Forgot 'What?' and 'Why?'," James said.

"Doesn't matter _what_ it is or _why_, as long as it is fun and they are completely humiliated.

"To answer all questions, the who would be Severus Snape, when—later tonight, where—dormitory, how—good question, what—you'll see, and why—because we feel like it."

"Sure," Sirius coughed out. "Oh, I know!" he exclaimed.

"You know something?" James asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah," Sirius answered excitedly, "it's in this book. There's this charm for finding rooms. Look through this," Sirius tossed James another book, "it should tell you how to discover passwords." James flipped through the Revealing Charms book. They found the right pages and were now practising them.

"Ready?" Sirius asked at ten after midnight. James nodded and took a beautiful, silvery, water-like cloak from his pockets.

"Is that…?"

"Gift from my father. Family heirloom, really," James said proudly.

"Your father gave you an Invisibility Cloak?" Sirius exclaimed in a whisper.

"Yeah. One of my ancestors gave one each to his five friends and fifteen to close friends or something."

"How did your father get twenty of them?" Sirius asked.

"He found and helped the faerie who makes these things," James said with a shrug, "he told me the whole story, it's written somewhere. I don't really remember."

"C'mon,' Sirius said, slipping under the cloak with James.

"_Locatious Processia Lumo Invisi_!" Sirius whispered. A little light appeared, "Slytherin First-Year boys dormitories." The little light lead them to a wall.

James poked his head out, "_Tellis!_" he whispered.

"Serpent's poison," said a stone.

"Serpent's poison," James repeated as the wall silently broke away. The light led them across a dark, medieval-looking Common Room and down the right-side hallway. They snuck into the dormitory and James opened a Severus's trunk. He changed all of Severus's black boxers bright fluorescent pink, including the ones he was wearing (they were quite relieved that he was actually wearing them when they moved the covers). James also went through his robes and drew "Spell Lines" across the waist, after which he whispered, "You'll see what they do in the Great Hall at breakfast," to Sirius, "I'll activate it at the proper moment."

Sirius smiled to himself. He knew that this would be good. They returned everything to it's proper place and snuck back to Gryffindor Tower for a peaceful sleep.

A/N: There. Finally done. Please review peoples. I'll work on getting the next chapter up. I just have so much to do.


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